NOMADICISTA

Hello, all. I'm new here - been lurking a bit here and over on Skoolie.net for a while and thought I would try to join the conversation.

I really like the look of the late-model Thomas Saf-T-Liner C2's. Has anyone run across an RV conversion involving one of those? Not seeing anything on the interwebs but with those big 36" height windows, huge windshield and sleek design, I'll bet they will (one day) make a great skoolie. Would love to see links of anything already out there. Perhaps it is just too soon yet for these late models to have made their way down the food chain to the skoolie crowd!

Thanks,
Wahoo

Welcome, new person!!

Looks like a cool bus style for a conversion.

The C2 has had some real teething problems.

The huge front windshields have had leakage problems. And like all windshields they do get broken. But unlike the standard flat glass of days gone by, replacement of those big windshields are not easy or inexpensive.

Thomas also first started using multiplexing the electrical system in the C2. Unfortunately it is a work in progress. Almost all C2's have electrical gremlins.

Some of the early C2's are starting to come out of service.

IMHO I would wait quite a few more years before investing in a C2. In the meantime, the older style FS-65 was made until just a few years ago--a tried and true design that hasn't had the teething problems the C2 has had even though they started using some of the same new technology in the old design.

Mark,

Thanks for the response and intel. I can imagine a cutting-edge design like the C2 would have its teething issues. What do you mean exactly by "multiplexing" of the electrical systems?

Mulitplexing is the new way in which most equipment is wired.

Instead of a single wire going from a switch to a heater or light or whatever, the signal for several different functions are carried on the same wire.

In theory it works really well.

In the field it works most of the time.

But when stray signals get crossed in the system you have nothing but electrical gremlins.

If you have ever worked with something with Lucas electrics you would understand some of the issues with multiplexing.

Don't get me wrong. Multiplexing is a great idea and saves a bunch of $$$ when equipment is built and it is something we are all going to have to get used to now. Almost all cars, trucks, buses, and any other kind of motorized unit that has a computer controlled engine management system will have some sort of mulitplexing in it.

But on a new model of anything I would wait and purchase the third or fourth year of production before I purchased a first year version.

Mark R. Obtinario wrote:Mulitplexing is the new way in which most equipment is wired.

Instead of a single wire going from a switch to a heater or light or whatever, the signal for several different functions are carried on the same wire.

In theory it works really well.

In the field it works most of the time.

But when stray signals get crossed in the system you have nothing but electrical gremlins.

If you have ever worked with something with Lucas electrics you would understand some of the issues with multiplexing.

Don't get me wrong. Multiplexing is a great idea and saves a bunch of $$$ when equipment is built and it is something we are all going to have to get used to now. Almost all cars, trucks, buses, and any other kind of motorized unit that has a computer controlled engine management system will have some sort of mulitplexing in it.

But on a new model of anything I would wait and purchase the third or fourth year of production before I purchased a first year version.

Your comments made me curious, so I went to "The Cloud" for Lucas Electric...is it the company Joseph Lucas started?? In the UK? If so, I found a treasure trove of 'commentary' about Lucas Electric. They have their own joke page!! Or two.... Some funny stuff there.

http://www4.ncsu.edu/~mtmorris/index3.html

Even xkcd.com has gotten into the act (#730)...!!!! lol... (The "What If" section is pretty cool on this page if you have any geek in you at all....)

http://www.xkcd.com/730/

Ah yes, thats the guy. I understand that the billboard atop the Lucas factory read "Lucas Electric-HOME BEFORE DARK". The electrical system in my Morris Minor TOAD was Lucas. It gave me so much trouble that when I restored the car I replaced all of the electrical--everything except the windshield wiper motor which still has its smoke intact and therefore still works. If I'd have been thinking ahead 15 years ago I'd have bought a case of Lucas replacement smoke and saved myself the trouble of the rewire Jack